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To: ga medic
A guy in my station had surgery on a broken ankle last fall. He was in the hospital recovering from other injuries as well. His wife kept asking what the smell was, and the nurses kept saying she was imagining things. 3 days later when he finally saw the doctor who did the surgery, the bandages came off and the ankle was horribly infected. He had his left ankle amputated and is now learning how to use his new prosthesis

A year and a half ago I was injured by a falling crate at work. The hospital bandaged it,gave me a tetanus shot, took an xray and sent me home. About 2 weeks later I noticed the wound was healing rather slow and went to the Emergency room again and they gave me antibiotics, rebandaged the leg and sent me home. About a week later I was at my urologist and showed him my leg just as an afterthought and he was horrified-he made me go to the nearest ER right away. While there the emergency room doctor removed the bandage and a smell like stale sweat socks came from the wound, which had gotten so big there was actually a visible hole in the leg-long story short it was gangrene which my surgeon said was caught just in time to save the lower part of my leg. After 2 operations and a skin graft everything turned out fine. According to the hospital everything was done correctly and getting gangrene was just bad luck.

36 posted on 02/14/2009 10:55:29 PM PST by Larry381 (Politicians are like diapers - they should be changed frequently, and for the same reason)
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To: Larry381

Amazing. Your story is very similar to Aris’ (my buddy at work) Only, he wasn’t quite so lucky, and his infection set in faster. He sustained a head injury and some internal injuries, so he was still in the hospital when the infection set in. He had the leg amputated before he ever left. It was the same story though. Doctors told him he was lucky to be alive, even without the leg. Sometimes these infections happen—just his bad luck. there was nothing they could have done to prevent it. Everything was done correctly.

I am glad that your situation turned out better than his.


51 posted on 02/15/2009 11:53:40 AM PST by ga medic
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